Implications Of Dell's EMC Buyout
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Dell’s acquisition of EMC is the largest tech deal in history.
Dell, together with MSD Partners and Silver Lake, will acquire data storage company EMC Corporation for a price tag of $67 billion, marking the largest tech deal in history. The deal will result in the world’s largest privately-controlled, integrated technology company.
The move is anticipated to help Dell diversify from the sluggish PC market and move it into the more profitable markets of for managing and storing data. The deal combines Dell’s server businesses with EMC’s storage and virtualization assets. EMC has a healthcare data analytics division, including clients such as Partners HealthCare, University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System, and St. Luke’s Health System.
“Our new company will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next generation IT including digital transformation, software-defined data center, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile and security,” Dell officials said in a prepared statement.
As Information Week writes, the merger includes cloud services, virtualization, security, and system management aspects of enterprise IT, and “it’s also poised to reframe the IT vendor landscape for years to come.”
For healthcare specifically, it means Dell is now a major security player. With the rise of hacks and other security breaches among healthcare organizations, this could be a significant factor for the industry. Information Week wrote, “SecureWorks, Sonic Wall, AppAssure, and EMC’s RSA will all be in one place if the Dell acquisition goes through. With RSA in the mix, Dell now has a serious security presence across the spectrum.”
The move will also greatly increase and enhance cloud capabilities and management software offerings, both of which have great potential for healthcare solutions.
“The merger/acquisition of EMC by Dell makes a lot of strategic sense for Dell. EMC, thanks to VMWare, has positioned itself as a player in the growing cloud and big data industry, handling terabytes of clients’ data via product and service offerings,” Aija Leipon, associate professor at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, told USA Today in an email.
Egon Durban, managing partner of Silver Lake stated, “We believe the strategic integration of EMC and Dell will generate unparalleled depth and breadth across servers, storage, virtualization and the next era of converged infrastructure, creating a global technology platform poised for sustained long term growth and innovation in the years to come. We are doubling down and increasing our investment in this differentiated market leader for the next paradigm of enterprise computing.”